Iranian Alert -- September 13, 2003 -- IRAN LIVE THREAD PING LIST

The regime is working hard to keep the news about the protest movment in Iran from being reported.

From jamming satellite broadcasts, to prohibiting news reporters from covering any demonstrations to shutting down all cell phones and even hiring foreign security to control the population, the regime is doing everything in its power to keep the popular movement from expressing its demand for an end of the regime.

These efforts by the regime, while successful in the short term, do not resolve the fundamental reasons why this regime is crumbling from within.

Iran is a country ready for a regime change. If you follow this thread you will witness, I believe, the transformation of a nation. This daily thread provides a central place where those interested in the events in Iran can find the best news and commentary.

Please continue to join us here, post your news stories and comments to this thread.

Rafsanjani, Statoil and the $15.2 Million Consultancy Contract

September 12, 2003
Reuters
John Acher

Oslo -- The head of international exploration and production at Norwegian oil and gas group Statoil resigned abruptly on Friday as police launched a probe into possible corruption in its Iranian business.

Chief Executive Olav Fjell accepted the resignation of international E&P chief Richard Hubbard, an architect of Statoil's drive overseas, amid a police probe into a deal with Iranian consultants, Statoil said in a statement.

State-controlled Statoil also revoked an 11-year $15.2 million consultancy contract signed in 2002 with London-based, Iranian-owned consultancy Horton Investment and said it would pay no more than the $5.2 million that it had already paid to the firm.

Statoil is the development phase operator of Iran's huge South Pars gas field in the Gulf.

"This decision has been taken in order to remove any doubt whatsoever about Statoil's compliance with its ethical guidelines," Fjell said in a statement. Fjell told a news conference he had no information pointing to corruption.

Statoil's shares ended down 2.6 percent at 66.25 Norwegian crowns, underperforming a soft Oslo bourse and the DJ Stoxx energy index of its peers.

On Wednesday, the Norwegian police's economic crime unit launched an investigation to find out if any criminal offence has occurred in Statoil's dealings in Iran, Statoil said.

"Statoil will assist the investigation in all possible ways," it said.

The economic crime unit said it was investigating Statoil to find out if it was involved in "punishable corruption", but it did not elaborate.

"NOTHING TO SIGNIFY CORRUPTION"

"I have no information that would signify corruption," Fjell told a news conference, but said that an investigation by auditors was still in progress. "I do not see that this will affect our strategy in Iran."

Fjell's comments were echoed by Norwegian Oil and Energy Minister Einar Steensnaes, who visited Iran in May to boost energy-sector cooperation between the two countries.

"So far there has not been anything uncovered that breaks ethical guidelines or that is corruption," Steensnaes told NRK radio. "By taking swift action they want to push aside any doubts."

Fjell said Statoil had dealt with consultants in Iran, including Mehdi Hashemi Rafsanjani -- son of the former Iranian president -- to obtain information on how to conduct business in the country.

Rafsanjani leads a subsidiary of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), Statoil's business partner in Iran, a Statoil spokesman said. NIOC is due to take over as production operator of the South Pars field when development is complete.

Spokesman Kai Nielsen said that Rafsanjani was one of the two consultants that the company had worked most with in Iran, alongside Horton Investment's owner Abbas Yazdi, who introduced Statoil to Rafsanjani.

Analysts said Hubbard's resignation could be a setback for Statoil's plans to fuel growth through its international units.

Statoil appointed Ottar Rekdal, senior vice president for gas operations, to replace Hubbard.

"This is damaging in the sense that Statoil's growth going forward is supposed to come internationally, and then of course you do not need events like this," said analyst Knut Erik Loevstad at CAI Cheuvreux in London.

"Everyone is perhaps replaceable, but Richard (Hubbard) has been essential in building Statoil's internationalisation strategy," Loevstad said.

Hubbard, a geologist, became head of international E&P in 2000 after heading BP Amoco's (BP) operations in Brazil.

(additional reporting by Ola Peter Krohn Gjessing and Terje Solsvik)

http://money.iwon.com/jsp/nw/nwdt_rt_top.jsp?cat=TOPBIZ&src=201&feed=reu&section=news&news_id=reu-l12295670-u3&date=20030912&alias=/alias/money/cm/nw

Iran's nuclear deadline

Ultimatum over US suspicion that Tehran is building bomb

Ian Traynor in Vienna, Dan De Luce in Tehran and Ewen MacAskill
Saturday September 13, 2003
The Guardian

The worsening international crisis over Iran's suspected nuclear bomb programme escalated last night when the UN set Tehran a deadline of 45 days to come clean on its nuclear activities.
Failure to comply by Iran, whose diplomats walked out of a meeting in Vienna yesterday in protest at the deadline, could lead to the imposition of UN sanctions.

Both the US and Britain suspect the Islamic Republic of secretly seeking to build a nuclear weapon, a charge it denies.

But the International Atomic Energy Authority, the Vienna-based UN organisation, yesterday called on Tehran to suspend all uranium enriched activities after traces of weapons-grade uranium were found at Natanz, a civilian nuclear facility.

Mohammed El Baradei, the IAEA chief, said the deadline and the terms of the resolution sent "a very powerful message to Iran to cooperate fully and immediately".

The crisis brings confrontation between Iran and the US a step nearer. The US has been lobbying the IAEA to take a tough line with Tehran.

Despute still being bogged down in Iraq, President George Bush yesterday signalled that the US was prepared to take action against any country it believed posed a threat to it.

The day after the second anniversary of the attacks on New York and Washington, Mr Bush said: "In this new kind of war, America has followed a new strategy. We are not waiting for further attacks on our citizens. We are striking our enemies before they can strike us again."

If Iran fails to meet the October 31 deadline for complying with the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, the IAEA is almost certain to refer the issue to the UN security council, which could then apply sanctions.

Iran, in turn, has threatened to review its membership of the IAEA.

The US, given the existing instability in Iraq and the Middle East, is likely to settle for sanctions. Mr Bush will be reluctant to engage in military action in the run-up to next year's presidential election.

The crisis is a setback for British diplomacy. The Foreign Office has been courting Tehran since 1997 and is disappointed with Iran's intransigence. There is also, privately, disappointment that Washington has opted for confrontation rather than constructive engagement.

Relations between Iran and Britain have deteriorated sharply recently. It emerged yesterday that the British embassy has been shot at three times in the past month, though only two of the attacks have been made public.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: "We regret the Iranian walk-out [from the IAEA]."

The walkout presents a quandary to the UN's nuclear inspectors. A team is due to go to Iran within 10 days and the resolution, passed without a vote yesterday, obliges Tehran to guarantee unrestricted access to sites the inspectors want to visit.

But the threat to break off cooperation with the agency may mean that the terms of the resolution cannot be met. Iran would then be declared in breach of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty and would join North Korea as an international pariah deemed to be building a nuclear bomb.

Western diplomats and IAEA officials expressed confidence yesterday that Iran would not sever links with the UN agency and would allow the inspections to proceed.

The resolution empowers Dr El Baradei to report to the IAEA in November. The US ambassador to the agency, Kenneth Brill, said that meant Iran had been given "one last chance" to prove its nuclear programme was peaceful.

The five-day meeting of the IAEA's board of governors, representing 35 countries, was sorely divided over how to deal with the Iranian dilemma. The compromise resolution, co-authored by Canada, Australia, and Japan and backed by the Americans, asked Iran to suspend all uranium enrichment activities, agree to snap UN inspections, and ordered Tehran to provide copious information to the inspectors by the end of October.

"We reject the ultimatum," said Ali Salehi, the Iranian ambassador, before walking out of the session. "My delegation wishes to have no part in this process or in this resolution."

While as recently as six months ago, the Americans were relatively isolated in pushing for tough action against the Iranians over the nuclear suspicions, the wealth of troubling evidence un earthed in recent months by the inspectors has produced a groundswell of support for the American position, including within the IAEA itself, and in distinct contrast to the rows over Iraq and whether Saddam Hussein had a clandestine nuclear weapons project.

Senior western diplomats and IAEA insiders say the suspect Iranian programme is much more sophisticated and advanced than anything achieved in Iraq, and believe that declaring Iran in violation of the NPT is warranted now. The Iranians have only recently disclosed that their uranium enrichment projects go back to 1985, rather than 1997 as previously stated to UN inspectors.

The result in Vienna represented a diplomatic disaster for Iran and its efforts to cultivate Europe as a counterweight to US influence.

For six years the reformist government led by President Mohammad Khatami has tried to defuse Washington's bid to isolate Iran by courting Britain and other European states. But European governments grew increasingly frustrated with what they considered Iran's evasive attitude towards the IAEA and its contradictory explanations about its nuclear activities.

More hardline voices in Iran will point to the ultimatum as evidence that Mr Khatami's conciliatory approach has only made the country appear weak. Conservative newspapers have called for Iran to withdraw from the non-proliferation treaty altogether.

Pressure over the nuclear issue could lead the conservative clerical leadership to try to undermine the US occupation in neighbouring Iraq, or to rule out any handover of the al-Qaida suspects it admits are in its custody.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/iran/story/0,12858,1041307,00.html

Iran warns that atomic agency's order to meet October deadline could backfire

GEORGE JAHN, Associated Press Writer Friday, September 12, 2003
(09-12) 22:34 PDT VIENNA, Austria (AP) --

Iran warned that an Oct. 31 deadline to prove its nuclear aims are peaceful could backfire, suggesting Tehran could become even more secretive instead of opening its program for outside perusal.

The International Atomic Energy Agency's board of governors voted Friday to approve a U.S.-backed resolution imposing the deadline on Tehran to clear up questions about its nuclear program.

Chief Iranian delegate Ali Akbar Salehi then walked out in protest. Iranian officials had repeatedly warned that imposing a deadline and insisting on other tough language in the resolution would aggravate nuclear tensions.

"We will have no choice but to have a deep review of our existing level and extent of engagement with the agency," Salehi said, suggesting that Tehran might reduce or even break off links -- moves that would doom inspection attempts.

Diplomats fear Iran might follow the lead of North Korea, which renounced the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty in November and shut the outside world out of its secretive nuclear program.

If the next board meeting in November determines that Iran has not complied with the treaty banning the spread of nuclear arms, the noncompliance must reported to the U.N. Security Council, where reaction could range from formal criticism to economic sanctions.

The United States compared the situation to Iraq, noting that Baghdad had defied agency inspectors and hid plans to make nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction ahead of the spring invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.

But diplomats at the meeting warned against seeking parallels between the neighbors.

And Salehi -- whose decision to walk out in protest was a first in recent agency memory -- accused the United States of provoking the protest.

"At present, nothing pervades their appetite for vengeance, short of confrontation and war," he told the meeting. "It is no secret that the current U.S. administration ... entertains the idea of invasion of yet another territory as they aim to re-engineer and reshape the entire Middle East region."

"We reject the ultimatum in this draft," he said.

The resolution, submitted by Australia, Canada and Japan, called on Iran to "provide accelerated cooperation" with agency efforts to clear up questions about Tehran's nuclear program.

It also urged Iran to "ensure there are no further failures" in reporting obligations and called on it to "suspend all further uranium enrichment-related activities, including the further introduction of nuclear material" into a facility where U.N. nuclear agency inspectors found traces of weapons-grade enriched uranium.

The United States and other Western countries accuse Iran of working on a secret nuclear weapons program. They had been pushing for a resolution finding Iran in noncompliance, but gave up because of lack of support among board members.

Chief U.S. delegate Kenneth Brill said the threat by Iran to cut or end cooperation with the IAEA only "suggests they have something to hide that they do not want to come to light."

In Washington, State Department deputy spokesman Adam Ereli welcomed the board's action.

If Iran fails to answer agency questions by Oct. 31, "That would constitute further evidence of its ongoing activities to conceal its clandestine activities and its clandestine nuclear weapons program," he said.

An IAEA report to the board noted that traces of highly enriched, weapons-grade uranium were found at an Iranian nuclear facility, and said tests run by Iran make little sense unless the country is pursuing nuclear weaponry.

Tehran insists its nuclear programs are designed to generate electricity and that its equipment was "contaminated" with enriched uranium by a previous owner.

IAEA director general Mohamed ElBaradei expressed confidence that Iran would comply with the agency.

"I think the board is sending a very powerful message of support to the agency's work, to my work," he said after Friday's session. "It's also sending a very powerful message to Iran that they need to cooperate fully and immediately and to show complete transparency."

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2003/09/12/international0134EDT0421.DTL

India not to dilute relations with Iran for sake of Israel
Rajeev Sharma
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 12
The deepening strategic ties between India and Israel and the on-the-cards trilateral axis involving these two countries and the USA will not in any way dilute New Delhi’s relations with Iran whom Tel Aviv and Washington regard as “enemy number one”.

The perception in the South Block here is that for the sake of its relationship with one country no country can forego its relationship with another country and the same applied to India.

This was clearly demonstrated today when the spokesman for Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Mr Navtej Sarna, took an unequivocal position that India was not supportive of the Israeli Cabinet’s decision to expel the Palestine Authority President as such a move would go against the peace process.

Another development reflected India’s independent foreign policy. Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazzi called up External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha last evening, barely 24 hours after Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had left India.

This, diplomatic observers said, was reminiscent of Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf’s recent maiden visit to Russia. As soon as General Musharraf’s plane had taken off from Moscow, Mr Putin called up Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, sending signals of a strong Indo-Russian bond which could not be upset by any number of visits from Pakistan.

Officially, the MEA only said Mr Kharazzi discussed developments in the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) regarding Iran’s nuclear programme.

However, it is understood that the two foreign ministers reviewed the Indo-Iranian relations in the context of Mr Sharon’s India visit and Mr Sinha used this opportunity to brief Mr Kharazzi about the Sharon visit.

During this historic visit, Mr Sharon had made strong anti-Iran remarks and described Iran as Israel’s “enemy number one”.

What transpired yesterday was an unusually angry press statement by the Iranian embassy here wherein Tehran took exception to Mr Sharon’s anti-Iran remarks.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2003/20030913/main5.htm

US-Iran face off at World Freestyle Wrestling

AP[ SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2003 11:44:18 AM ]

NEW YORK: Iran and the United States split the last two matches at the opening day of the World Freestyle Championships Friday.

Iran's Hadi Habibi beat Joe Williams 3-1 in overtime in the 163-pound (73-kilogramme) class. Two minutes later Cael Sanderson defeated Majid Khodaee of Iran 8-2 at 185 pounds (83 kilogrammes).

US wrestlers had won their first 20 matches in the two sessions of pool competition before the two highly anticipated matchups between American and Iranian wrestlers.

``We train to win every match. We were excited about our performance, but we feel as bad about the one loss as we are happy about the 21 wins,'' United States coach Bobby Douglas said.

Williams was thrown for three points as overtime began and the contingent of Iranian fans erupted and the crowd estimated at 6,000 chanted back and forth.

Eric Guerrero of the United States won two matches at 132 pounds (59 kilogrammes), including a 3-1 overtime win over Mohammad Talaei of Iran.

Other American victories included Sara McMann pinning world silver medallist Sara Erikkson of Sweden at 138 3/4 pounds (62 kilogrammes) and Stephen Abas winning twice in overtime at 121 pounds (54 kilogrammes), including a 3-1 victory over 2002 Olympic gold medallist Abdullaev Yadulla of Azerbaijan.

``I set a goal a long time ago to be a world champion,'' Abas said. ``I have to clear the pool to do that.''

Svetlana Martynenko of Russia upset women's world 67-kilogramme champion Katerina Burmistrova of Ukraine 3-1 in the first session of the pool competiton at the World Freestyle Championships.

Also, Tanabe Chickara of Japan edged 2001 world 55-kilogramme champion German Kontoev of Belarus 11-10 at Madison Square Garden.

The world championships were to be held in New York in September 2001, but were moved to Bulgaria following the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.

American men won world championships in 1993 and 1995 and the women won in 1999.

Seventy countries are represented in the competition that runs through Sunday.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/html/uncomp/articleshow?msid=180255

((Signs of friendship between 2 great nations))

Groups push for Kazemi probe

By MICHELLE MACAFEE

MONTREAL (CP) - Ottawa is not doing enough to pursue all legal avenues, in Canada and abroad, to bring justice in the case of a Canadian photojournalist slain in Iran, several journalism and human rights groups said Friday.

The coalition, joined by Zahra Kazemi's son, released a letter sent this week to Prime Minister Jean Chretien, Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham, Justice Minister Martin Cauchon and Immigration Minister Denis Coderre. The letter asks the Canadian government to "act promptly to ensure those responsible for Ms. Kazemi's death do not benefit from impunity."

Specifically, the groups want Ottawa to:

- Investigate all cases of torture of Canadians abroad in accordance with the Criminal Code.

- Present Kazemi's case to the United Nations and ask it to lead an investigation through its Human Rights Commission.

- And submit an appeal to the International Court of Justice concerning violations of the Vienna Convention that prevented Kazemi, who had dual Iranian-Canadian citizenship, from getting proper consular protection.

Catherine Duhamel of the International Judicial Resources Centre said the coalition does not have wild expectations.

"It's a start," Duhamel told a news conference. "Two laws in Canada concerning Mrs. Kazemi's case are applicable. Why not use them? Start using them and see what happens."

Other groups which signed the letter include Amnesty International, Canadian Journalists for Free Expression, Reporters Without Borders and the Canadian Association of Journalists.

They are part of a growing political and non-governmental response to Kazemi's violent death earlier this summer.

Kazemi died July 10 after sustaining head injuries while in custody in Tehran. Her death came nearly three weeks after she was detained for taking photographs outside a prison during student-led protests. After 77 hours of interrogation, she was rushed to a hospital's intensive care unit where she died 14 days later.

The body was buried in Iran despite pleas from Ottawa and Kazemi's Montreal-based son, Stephan Hachemi, that it be returned to Canada.

Hachemi reiterated his call at the news conference for Ottawa to get tough with Iran.

"Now that the Canadian government has been truly humiliated, I understand that for the honour of two Canadian citizens - my mother and myself - it doesn't want to lose important diplomatic relations," Hachemi said.

"But for its honour, I think the government should show a lot more resolve."

Isabelle Savard, a spokeswoman for Graham, said the minister had not yet seen the coalition's letter.

While he is prepared to look at the legal options available within Canada, he is already busy trying to "internationalize the issue," said Savard.

Graham addressed the issue of protecting all journalists around the world during a meeting in Washington this week with Secretary of State Colin Powell. Earlier this month Graham also pressed European allies to demand Iran prosecute those responsible for Kazemi's death.

"The only way to get through to a government like the Iranian government is to address this with other countries . . . in order that at some point people speak with a common voice," Savard said in a telephone interview.

Kazemi's death has also attracted the attention of UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, who said recently he was "highly concerned" and promised to raise the issue with Iran.

Savard said Graham has already asked that the UN Human Rights Commission address the case.

Duhamel said the coalition will give the government time to respond to its specific requests, but has plans for further action if it's not satisfied with the results.

http://www.canoe.com/CNEWS/Canada/2003/09/12/184558-cp.html

IRAN GIVEN 50 DAYS TO COMPLY WITH IAEA OR FACE SANCTIONS

VIENNA, 12 Sept. (IPS) The Islamic Republic of Iran suffered a humiliating defeat at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) after the 35 members Board of the Directors gave Tehran until the end of October to open up all its nuclear projects for inspections.

Adopted without a vote, a procedure that the IAEA spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said described as "very unusual", the resolution, presented by Japan, Canada and Australia, urges the Islamic Republic to also suspend its secret uranium enriching programs.

Iran’s delegation at the Board, led by Ali Akbar Salehi, its Ambassador at the IAEA, walked out of the meeting immediately after it became clear that the resolution would be adopted. "The Iranian walkout was a protest against the resolution and against the procedure", an IAEA spokesman explained.

What surprised and angered Iran was that some non-aligned countries had also joined the resolution, adopted after months of tough bickering and lobbying from Iran in the one hand and the United States on the other.

Russia, which is constructing the 1000 megawatts, 800 million US dollars Booshehr power plant, also voted the resolution

According to the resolution, it is "essential and urgent" for Iran to "remedy all failures" in compliance reported by the IAEA since inspections began in February, after Iran was revealed to more nuclear facilities than thought.

But the language of the resolution had been toned down, "requesting" rather than "calling" for Iran to sign an additional protocol to the NPT to allow IAEA inspectors to make surprise visits to suspect sites, observers noted.

In Tehran, Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the regime’s virtual number two man and Chairman of the Assembly for Discerning the Interests of the State (ADIS), or the Expediency Council criticised the UN watchdog on nuclear issues for what it described as the Agency’s "false reports" on Iran’s nuclear activities.

Addressing worshipers at the Tehran Friday prayers, Mr. Hashemi Rafsanjani termed as "unjust, unilateral and bullying" what is going on in the meeting of the IAEA board of governors in Vienna and warned that the IAEA would be responsible for what it would decide on Iran.

"In Vienna, pressure is exerted against Iran to sign the additional protocol to the NPT unconditionally and immediately. This is a great insult, and a shame on big powers as well as the International Atomic Energy Agency, sine the acceptance of the additional protocol is not obligatory for any country in the world, and currently, too, only 32 countries have signed it", he claimed.

"America and some European countries are trying to drive the (board's) decision toward political aims", Iran’s Foreign Affairs Minister Kamal Kharrazi told the official news agency IRNA.

"Iran desires cooperation with the IAEA and to enable this agency to make a decision based on realities", he added, backing off from earlier warning that Iran might stop cooperating with the Vienna-based IAEA if it is pressed to sign the additional protocols to the Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and open up all its nuclear activities for inspection by the Agency’s experts without proper compensation.

"We hope the board of governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency will not give in to political pressures", IRNA had quoted Kharazi as having saying.

Hard line Iranian newspapers had urged the government to get out of the NPT at once, claiming signing the additional protocols would open Iranian nuclear, military and other strategic installations to spies.

The United States and Israel alleges that Iran’s present nuclear-powered electrical plant under construction in the Persian Gulf of Booshehr with the help of Russia is a cover for developing nuclear weapons.

That claim is strongly rejected by both Tehran and Moscow, insisting that all the nuclear-related projects are for civilian use only.

Ruling Iranian ayatollahs also observes that Islam forbids nuclear arms, although they do not say how the religion has banned weapons discovered some sixty-seventy years ago.

Washington had lobbied hard during five days of closed-door talks by the IAEA’s Board of Directors to get the resolution adopted and on Wednesday, it had secured the cooperation of Britain, France, Germany and Japan circulating a draft resolution calling on Iran to stop all its nuclear project, particularly enriching uranium.

The IAEA said in an August 26 report that inspectors found traces of weapons-grade highly enriched uranium at an enrichment facility that Iran has built secretly at Natanz, in central Iran, arousing suspicions that Iran might have been secretly purifying uranium for use in nuclear weapons.

The Friday resolution could lead to the Iranian issue being referred to the UN Security Council, which has the power to impose punishing sanctions.

Excerpts of an International Atomic Energy Agency resolution passed Friday that gives Iran until the end of October to dispel suspicions it may be running a covert nuclear weapons program, as compiled by the American news agency Associated Press:

The conference, "calls on Iran to provide accelerated cooperation and full transparency to allow the agency to provide at an early date the assurances required by (IAEA) member states".

"Calls on Iran to ensure there are no further failures to report material, facilities and activities that Iran is obliged to report", to the IAEA.

"Calls on Iran to suspend all further uranium enrichment-related activities".

Decides it is "essential and urgent ... that Iran remedy all failures identified by the agency and cooperate fully with the agency to ensure verification of compliance with Iran's safeguards agreement by taking all necessary actions by the end of October 2003, including:

Providing a full declaration of all important material and components relevant to the (uranium) enrichment program ....

Granting unrestricted access, including environmental sampling, for the agency ... for the purposes of verification of the correctness and completeness of Iran's declarations".

The resolution also calls on Iran "to promptly and unconditionally sign, ratify and fully implement" an additional IAEA protocol opening all its nuclear activities to IAEA inspectors.

It calls on IAEA Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei to report back to the board on Iran's compliance by November, the date of the next scheduled board meeting.
Board Members for 2002-2003
Member States represented on the IAEA Board for 2002.2003 are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Cuba, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, France, Germany, India, Islamic Republic of Iran, Japan, Kuwait, Malaysia, Morocco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Panama, Philippines, Romania, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain, Sudan, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, United States of America.

http://www.iran-press-service.com/articles_2003/Sept-2003/iaea_iran_12903.htm

Zarif blames US for efforts to deprive Iran of nuclear technology

Tehran, Sept 13, IRNA -- Iran`s permanent representative to the United
Nations here Friday blamed the United States for its efforts to
deprive Iran of nuclear power.
Speaking in an interview with the New York Times, published on
Friday, Mohammad Javad Zarif said that the US is trying to use
existing international mechanisms to deprive Iran of legitimate power
plants.
"Iran`s ranking diplomat in the United states, in an interview
blames the Americans for his country`s reluctance to reveal details of
its nuclear program," New York Times wrote.
Zarif further pointed to Washington`s "intention to deprive Iran"
of legitimate power plants as the reason for Iran`s current problems
with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), adding that the
political issue has led to technical difficulties.
He said that Iranian cooperation with the nuclear agency was
simply a matter of carrying out the investigation "in the right
political atmosphere," and "in a technical atmosphere."
He added that Washington "has used the existing international
mechanisms in order to take a step-by-step approach towards depriving
Iran of its nuclear capability, even power generation.
He added," There are people in Washington who do not want to
clarify matters -- who, in fact, would encourage, invite and welcome
negative news from Iran. And if that is the intention, if that is
the desire, then they may in fact get what they want."
On the United States policy in the Middle east, Zarif said,"I
believe the entire international community considers the behavior of
the United States disrespectful, particularly of this administration."
He also mentioned the American invasion of Iraq as the main reason
behind further extremism in the region, exacerbation of the terrorist
threat both inside Iraq and outside as well as discouraged cooperation
and confidence-building in the region.
The IAEA Governing Board on Friday passed a resolution setting
Iran an October 31 deadline to prove it had no secret atomic weapons
program.
The resolution, submitted by Australia, Canada and Japan, calls
on Iran to "provide accelerated cooperation" with agency efforts to
clear up Tehran`s nuclear question marks.
It also urges Tehran to suspend all further uranium
enrichment-related activities.
Iran`s delegation walked out of the board of governors` meeting
in protest.
Iranian officials had repeatedly warned that imposing a deadline
would aggravate the existing tension.

http://www.irna.ir/#2003_09_1311_54_170

Pressure Mounts for Iran to Prove Not Making A-Bomb

Sat September 13, 2003 09:21 AM ET

VIENNA (Reuters) - Russia gave explicit public backing on Saturday to a U.N. watchdog's resolution which has given Iran seven weeks in which to let the atomic agency verify it has no secret nuclear weapons program.

The clear words from a country that had been seen as trying to counter American pressure on Iran will not be welcomed by Tehran, which says the setting of the October 31 deadline is proof it is the next target of a U.S. invasion.

Following intense U.S. pressure for action against Iran, the 35-nation governing board of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) passed a resolution on Friday demanding Iran answer many outstanding questions about its nuclear program.

The resolution implies that if the IAEA still has doubts about Iran's atomic program in November, its board might declare Iran in breach of international obligations and report it to the U.N. Security Council for possible economic sanctions.

Approval of the resolution ignited the wrath of Tehran. Iran's ambassador to the IAEA in Vienna, Ali Akbar Salehi, said it showed Washington intended to invade Iran as it did Iraq.

He rejected the ultimatum and said Tehran would begin a "deep review" of its cooperation with the U.N. watchdog.

A Saturday editorial in Iran's hardline newspaper Jomhuri-ye Eslami said Iran should follow the example of North Korea, which on December 31 expelled all IAEA inspectors and later withdrew from the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

"It should be accepted that the correct way was the one North Korea chose," the paper said.

Russia, which diplomats said had fought hard to weaken the U.S.-backed language of the resolution to protect billions of dollars of nuclear deals with Tehran, ultimately backed it.

"(The resolution) is a serious and respectful appeal by the agency for Iran to cooperate with IAEA...and do so without delay," Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Kislyak told Interfax.

Iran denies U.S. allegations that it has violated the NPT in its effort to develop atomic weapons secretly.

But Anoush Ehtesami, professor of international relations at Britain's University of Durham, said some in the military were keen to leave the NPT to follow Pakistan's and India's example.

"The lesson Iran has learned...is that you can have a clandestine program, and when you complete it you declare your nuclear status and after a little period of economic sanctions the world moves on," he told the BBC.

WHAT IRAN MUST DO BY OCTOBER 31

Friday's resolution said Iran must fully cooperate with the IAEA to enable it to verify the "non-diversion of nuclear materials" to a secret weapons program.

By the end of October, Iran must give the IAEA a "full declaration" of uranium enrichment-related imports, especially "imported equipment and components stated to have been contaminated with highly enriched uranium particles."

The IAEA's discovery of weapons-grade enriched uranium at an enrichment facility at Natanz sparked fears that Tehran has been secretly purifying uranium for use in nuclear weapons.

Iran blamed the uranium on contaminated components bought abroad, an explanation that has met with widespread skepticism.

The resolution also called on Iran to immediately suspend all uranium-enrichment activities for the time being.

Tehran must also grant "unrestricted access" to IAEA inspectors throughout the country and permit them to take environmental samples wherever they choose. Tehran has refused to let IAEA inspectors to take samples at some sites.

Finally, by the end of October Iran must "remedy all failures" and take all steps necessary for the IAEA to "resolve all outstanding issues involving nuclear materials and nuclear activities" in Iran. (Additional reporting by Paul Hughes in Tehran, Andrei Shukshin in Moscow and the London bureau)

http://asia.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=3438228

US Gives Iran Nuclear Caution

September 13, 2003
BBC News
BBCi

The US has warned Iran that failure to co-operate with the UN's nuclear watchdog would constitute further proof of a secret nuclear weapons programme.

The warning follows the adoption of a new resolution at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) giving Iran until 31 October to prove that it is not pursuing such a programme.

The move triggered a walk-out by Iranian diplomats at the IAEA meeting in protest - and a threat that Tehran would conduct a "deep review" of its relations with the nuclear watchdog.

Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi told reporters in Sarajevo, Bosnia, any resolution coming down hard on his country, "could make the situation more complicated".

Former Iranian president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said Iran should not be compelled to agree to intrusive inspections of its atomic programme.

"They are putting pressure on Iran to sign the Additional Protocol immediately and implement it."

"Accepting the Additional Protocol is not compulsory and no country has to accept," he told a prayer meeting.

Friday's resolution does not outline consequences of Iranian non-compliance, but leaves open the possibility of UN Security Council involvement.

A spokesman for the US state department said: "If Iran fails to take those steps by the deadline, that would constitute further evidence of its ongoing efforts to conceal its clandestine activities.

"Unless Iran immediately reverses course, [the IAEA would be obliged] to report Iran's non-compliance to the UN Security Council," Adam Ereli said.

IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei said the agency would adopt "a very vigorous approach to complete our work and we will make sure we get all the information we need".

Iran has some serious decisions to take and time is running out, says the BBC's Tehran correspondent Jim Muir.

It can suspend co-operation with the IAEA and adopt a stance similar to North Korea's - as some hardliners advocate.

Or it can open up fully to the inspectors, to prove it is not building nuclear weapons, our correspondent says.

Weapons fears

The United States has accused Iran of covertly developing nuclear weapons under the guise of a nuclear energy programme.

But Iran says it is only seeking to produce low-grade uranium fuel to meet its energy needs.

The 35-nation governing board of the IAEA has been meeting all week, examining a report by IAEA inspectors, which says traces of weapons-grade uranium were found at an Iranian nuclear plant.

Friday's resolution calls on Iran to halt all further uranium enrichment activities.

Iran's ambassador to the IAEA, Ali Akbar Salehi, said Tehran would not accept any deadlines.

"You can't impose deadlines on a sovereign country," he said.

He accused the US of having territorial ambitions on the region.

"It is no secret that the current US administration, or at least its influential circle, entertains the idea of invasion of yet another territory, as they aim to re-engineer and re-shape the entire Middle East region."

The IAEA will decide the next step if it finds Iran has not co-operated when it meets again in November.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3102586.stm

WMD Transport Targeted on High Seas

September 12, 2003
Asia Times
Safa Haeri

PARIS -- In a move aimed at making it more difficult for "rogue states" such as the Stalinist regime of North Korea or the Islamic Republic of Iran to get sophisticated pieces needed for their weapons of mass destruction (WMD), 11 industrialized nations, some of them members of the Atomic Club, decided last week in Paris to step up plans to intercept ships suspected of carrying such weapons.

While the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI), endorsed by the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Poland, Australia and Japan, is not specifically aimed at North Korea, there is no doubt that Pyongyang, which Washington and others accuse of making clandestine shipments of drugs, counterfeit cash and missiles, is the primary target.

As four of the 11 nations, namely the United States, Australia, Japan and France, will send ships to the western Pacific next week for an exercise simulating an interception, China, which, with Iran, is the hermit regime's main political supporter and trading partner, has warned the PSI group that its decision on inspecting ships in high seas could be illegal.

But John Bolton, the US under secretary of state for arms control and international security, rejected concerns that the initiative launched by President George W Bush in May risked breaking international law and said participating states had agreed a set of guidelines on how they would carry out interceptions of ships or aircraft.

Next week's "Pacific Protector" exercise is the first of 10 planned in coming months.

In April, the Ville de Virgo, a French-owned ship carrying 214 aluminum tubes that serve as gas-centrifuge components for enriching uranium for nuclear bombs, was intercepted on tips from French and German intelligence agencies as it was entering the Suez Canal. The shipment, procured in Germany and unloaded in the Egyptian port of Alexandria, was destined for North Korea.

German police arrested the owner of a small export company and said they had uncovered a scheme to acquire up to 2,000 such pipes. Investigators said they had concluded that that amount of aluminum in North Korean hands could have yielded about 3,500 gas centrifuges for enriching uranium. A Western diplomat said the intentions "were clearly nuclear ... The result could have been several bombs' worth of weapons-grade uranium in a year."

One month later, another ship, loaded with 33 tons of sodium cyanide, a chemical used in making the deadly nerve agent tabun, also purchased in Germany, one of the world's leading producers and exporters of toxic gas, was arrested and inspected before reaching Pyongyang, via Singapore, according to Western diplomatic sources.

"There are countries in the world where you can pay ,000 to a government minister and he'll sign anything - and then confirm to you that he signed it," said Rastislav Kacer, a former Slovak deputy defense minister who helped lead an investigation into a similar attempt by North Korea to buy sophisticated radar equipment. "Documents that are fake can be made to appear very real," he added, quoted by Joby Warrick in the Washington Post of August 14.

Pyongyang will be the PSI's first test because Kim Jong-il's regime has the most advanced nuclear- and chemical-weapons programs of any rogue state and a history of exporting arms, one participant said.

Experts on atomic proliferation say the above two examples are the tip of the iceberg in the huge and lucrative underground WMD market, as many other shipments reach their destinations without being inspected.

"The clandestine market for atomic, biological and chemical [ABC] arms as well as missiles capable of delivering them is very big," said a French anti-terrorist expert, adding that despite existing international treaties and tough controls on the export of such materials, not only regimes that have secret ABC projects, but also some well-financed and -trained terrorist organizations are able to shop in this market.

What worries most anti-terrorist experts in industrialized and democratic nations of the world is the "marriage of reason" of some "rogue" states and terrorist organizations, as seen in the case of the missiles fired by still unidentified terrorists on an Israeli jetliner on takeoff from Mombassa airport last November. The missiles, fired from a Russian-made shoulder-mounted engine, missed the plane that was carrying 261 passengers. At about the same time, a suicide car bomb rammed into a hotel in Mombassa, used by Israeli tourists, killing at least 11 people and wounding many others.

At the time, former Israeli foreign minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the attack as "a very dangerous escalation of terror".

"It means that terror organizations and those regimes that stand behind them are capable of acquiring weapons that can bring about mass casualties in every place in the world," he warned, adding: "Today they fired missiles at Israeli planes; tomorrow they'll fire missiles at US planes, British planes, planes from every state."

A year before, a Russian airliner full of Israeli passengers was shot down by a missile over Ukraine in what was termed an accident.

Experts observed that while North Korea has only one land border with Russia, making it easier for the PSI to control ships heading for the hermit state, Iran has several borders with countries that either possess nuclear technology, such as Pakistan, accused of assisting the Islamic Republic in its military nuclear-based projects, or master it, such as some former republics of the defunct Soviet Union.

"It is extremely easy to take spare parts necessary for fabrication of [an] atomic arsenal in trucks crossing almost all Iran's neighbors, maybe except for Iraq, which is under US occupation," one expert told Asia Times Online.

According to a report from German intelligence reported by Taggespiegel, some 70-90 Iranian scientists are working on Iranian nuclear devices at the nation's secret sites operated by the Revolutionary Guards. Large parts of the equipment for both missiles and bombs come from Pyongyang, via China and Pakistan, where it is difficult for international agencies to monitor and control them, Western intelligence sources told Asia Times Online.

Tehran is under intense pressure from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) about its current nuclear projects, which the United States and Israel say are ultimately destined for military purposes, while Iran insists that they are civilian, aimed primarily at producing electricity, a claim rejected by Iranian and Western experts on the basis that Iran possesses huge natural-gas reserves, the second-largest in the world after Russia's.

In a recent report, experts from the Vienna-based IAEA reported about secret Iranian facilities at the central city of Natanz for enriching uranium with the help of centrifuge parts purchased some years ago from probably China and North Korea as well as on the black markets.

The report brought about closer cooperation between the European Union and Russia, which is assisting the Islamic Republic in building its first 1,000-megawatt, US million nuclear-powered electricity plant at the Persian Gulf port of Booshehr.

On a recent visit to Tehran, EU Foreign and Security Affairs Minister Xavier Solana warned Tehran bluntly that signing the additional protocols to the Non-Proliferation Treaty was not a bargain for which Iran could expect rewards.

"If you don't sign the protocols, it would be bad news for you," he said of the conventions that allow IAEA experts to visit all Iranian atomic-related sites without prior notice and without preconditions.

Immediately after the conclusion of last week's Paris conference, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan told a news conference in Beijing: "The best way to prevent proliferation of weapons of mass destruction is through dialogue.

"We understand the concerns of some countries about the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction ... But many countries still question the efficiency and legitimacy of adopting this kind of measure," Kong added.

China's position on the PSI plan has been regarded as a determinant of its success because it controls many of the sea lanes around the Korean Peninsula, and North Korea uses Chinese air space to fly shipments to its Middle East trading partners, mainly Iran, which has been able to build up advanced medium- and long-range missiles based on North Korean technology.

"Finding and presenting the best ways and means for preventing and stopping proliferation and dissemination of weapons of mass destruction and missiles, as well as components and parts that facilitate their fabrication, is precisely what the PSI stands for," a French diplomat associated with the organization of the group's last meeting explained.

On a practical level, experts involved in the Proliferation Security Initiative said they would seek to make life more difficult for ships with suspicious cargo by getting permission from coastal states and countries that issue so-called "flags of convenience" to authorize at-sea interceptions.

The "statement of interdiction principles" released after the Paris talks contains a commitment to take action "consistent with national legal authorities and relevant international law and frameworks, including the UN Security Council".

"Certainly there are always questions about legality over these sorts of issues. Unfortunately international law isn't as strict and well defined as we would like it to be," Bolton observed, adding that it would obviously be better from the point of view of broader legitimacy to have United Nations Security Council endorsement of these sorts of operations. But given the fact that China has a veto on the Security Council, it is doubtful that anything would get through of which it didn't approve.

Rebuffing concerns that the program could give the United States and other 10 countries too much power to stop ships in international waters, Bolton argued that there is "abundant authority" under existing law to conduct interdictions, most of which he said take place in countries' territorial waters.

In cases where the legal cover isn't clear, the 11 members of the Proliferation Security Initiative have committed themselves to change national and international laws to strengthen those efforts.

The statement from the 11 members calls on states seriously to consider providing consent under the appropriate circumstances to the boarding and searching of its own flag vessels by other states.

A senior US official in Washington said efforts to recruit new members of the initiative would begin "relatively soon". The next meeting of the group will be October 9-10 in London.

http://atimes.com/atimes/Korea/EI12Dg01.html

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